Device for grasping and guiding travelling ends of wefts



Jan. 10, 1967 YUKIO MIZUNO ET AL 3,297,057

DEVICE FOR GRASPING AND GUIDING TRAVELLING ENDS OF WEFTS Filed May 27, 1964 United States Patent 3,297,057 DEVICE FQR GRASPING AND GUHDING TRAVELLING ENDS; OF WEFTS Yukio Mizuno and Shigenori Tanaita, Tokyo, Japan, assigners to Prince Jidosha Kogyo Kabushiiri-Kaisha, Tokyo, liapan Filed May 27, 1964, Ser. No. 370,497 Claims priority, application Japan, .liune 1, 1%3, 38/225,912 2 Claims. (Cl. 139-291) This invention relates in general to a shuttleless loom of fluid injection type and more particularly to a device for grasping and guiding a travelling end portion of a weft in such a loom.

In the conventional type of fluid injection type shuttleless looms, a length of weft as inserted at a high speed into a warp shed by an injected fluid is generally put in its extremely unstable state. If the free end portion of the weft having passed through the shed remain unconstrained as in the prior art practice that portion of the weft positioned in the shed will be loosened which may adversely affect the adjacent weave front and selvages of a textile weave previously produced. As a result, the texture of the weave at that end nearer to the free end of the weft is liable to be broken. Alternatively the free end portion of the weft may be folded leading to a weaving defect. Also that portion of the weft positioned in the shed may be unevenly tensioned. These phenomena cause a decrease in the quality of the finished product.

A general object of the invention is to eliminate the disadvantages just described.

An object of the invention is to provide, in a shuttleless loom of fluid injection type, a new and improved device for grasping and guiding a travelling end portion of a weft having passed through a shed while maintaining the same in its tensioned state.

The invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows schematically a longitudinal sectional view of a shuttleless loom of fluid injection type embodying the principle of the invention; and

FIGURE 2 shows a fragmental plan view of the loom illustrated in FIGURE 1.

According to the teachings of the invention a device for grasping and guiding travelling weft end portions in a shuttleless loom of fluid injection type comprises a plurality of binding yarns disposed on one side of a warp array for movement in a predetermined direction to suecessively grasp surplus end portions of successive lengths of weft which have successively passed through a warp shed, in their tensioned state by beating operation. The surplus weft portions thus grasped and the adjacent portions of the binding yarns are moved in the predetermined direction and twisted while they are cut away from the associated beaten lengths of weft by a cutter. Eventually the surplus weft portions cut and twisted into the binding yarns are wound on a winding drum.

Referring now to the drawing, there is illustrated a shuttleless loom of fluid injection type embodying the principle of the invention. The reference characters A and B denoted on the bottom of each of FIGURES l and 2 represent respectively a product region in which a woven product extends longitudinally in its tensioned state and a warp region in which an upper and a lower portion of parallel warp array extend in their tensioned state so as to form a shed therebetween in the conventional manner. On one side of the warp region or array B an injection nozzle 1 is disposed adjacent a weave front C of a woven sheet forming a boundary between the product and warp regions A and B respectively and between both regions with the longitudinal axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the warp array. The injection nozzle 1 may be of any desired conventional construction and serves to inject both a length of weft w and a working fluid under pressure into the shed to thereby lay the length of weft onto the lower warp array portion transversely to the same. In this way, the length of the injected weft traverses the shed and therefore the warp array B until the free end portion or the surplus portion w will shortly project beyond that side of the shed or the warp array B remote away from the injection nozzles 1.

According to the teachings of the invention more than one of embracing binding yarns in this case three yarns a, b and c are, in tensioned state, disposed in spaced parallel relationship with respect to the warp array B in such a way as to intersect the surplus end portion w of the injected weft w. It is to be noted that like the warp array B, alternate ones of the binding yarns such as the yarns a and c oppose the other binding yarns such as the middle yarn b to form a shed therebetween substantially identical with the shed formed between the upper and lower portions of warp array B. The yarn array a, b, and c is let off from a supply roll (not shown) a rate somewhat higher than a rate at which the warp array B are let off from a warp beam (not shown). A heald 2 is provided for forming the shed between the upper and lower portions of the warp array B and also includes an extension serving to form the shed between the binding yarns a, b and c.

In order to collect the binding yarns a, b and c to guide the collected yarns in a predetermined direction or in a direction leftward as viewed in the drawing and substantially parallel to the side of the woven sheet a guiding member 3 is disposed on the side of product region A and suitably spaced away from the side of the woven sheet. The guiding member 3 is provided with an opening 4 through which the collected yarns a, b and c are adapted to pass. Also a rockable cutter 5 is disposed adjacent the side of the woven sheet and between the same and the guiding member 3 for the purpose as will be apparent hereinafter.

Disposed in rear of the guiding member 3 and along the path of the collected yarns a, b and c is a U-shaped rotatable hook 6 rigidly secured to a hollow tubular shaft 7 at that end face opposing to the guiding member 3. The hollow tubular shaft 7 is mounted in a bearing 8 for reciprocating movement with the longitudinal axis thereof substantially aligned with the path of the collected binding yarns and is arranged to be driven by having a grooved pulley 9 secured thereon and engaging an end less belt 10 driven by any suitable drive (not shown).

In order to wind the collected binding yarns a, b and c, there are provided a taking up roller Ill and a winding drum 12 which may be one end portion respectively of the conventional taking up roller and cloth beam capable of being operatively coupled to the woven product A.

The arrangement thus far described is operated as follows:

Immediately after a length of weft w has been injected from the injection nozzle 1 into the sheds formed between the upper and lower portion of the warp array B and the binding yarns a, c and b a reed 13 is operated to beat the length of weft in its straightened state. According to the teachings of the invention the reed 13 includes an extension serving to engage the surplus end portion w of the injected weft w. Therefore, the reed 13 when operated serves to move the surplus weft portion w to a line substantially aligned with the weave front C. At the same time, the surplus weft portion w is embraced by the binding yarns a, b and c. In operation, the hollow tubular shaft 7 and therefore the U-shaped hook 6 rigid the same is rotating to subject the surplus weft portion w and those portions of the binding yarns a, b and c having embraced the same to twisting. This ensures that the surplus weft portion is grasped by the binding yarns. Then another length of weft can be injected from the injection nozzle 1 into the sheds and the process as above described is repeated.

By letting off the binding yarns and pulling the collected binding yarns by the cloth beam 12, the surplus Weft portions grasped by the adjacent portions of the binding yarns are progressively moved in the leftward direction as viewed in FIGURES 1 and 2 while the cutter 5 is operated to cut them successively. Therefore it will be appreciated that the travelling binding yarns successively grasp the surplus weft portions such that the grasped weft portions form a fluffy portion of a chenille yarn until the same will be wound on the cloth beam.

It has been found that, after the beaten lengths of weft have moved from the weave front toward the taking up roller by a distance equal to a few diameters of the weft to thereby be put in its stable state in the woven texture, the cutter 5 is operated to cut that surplus weft portion w consecutive to that beaten weft portion with the satisfactory results (see FIGURE 2).

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that, according to the teachings of the invention, surplus end portions of individual lengths of weft as inserted into a shed formed between binding yarns are successively grasped at the base portion and the free end portion by selvage yarns and the binding yarns respectively, cut and thereafter guided to a predetermined position while maintaining the same firmly grasped by the binding yarns. Therefore the invention is advantageous in that any defect of the finished texture involving selvages due to partial looseness of inserted wefts can be not only effectively prevented from occurring but also the cut weft portions are prevented from scattering leading to the elimination of operational inconveniences and disadvantages. Also those portions of the surplus weft portions remaining uncut away from in the woven sheet can be substantially uniform in length because the surplus weft portions have been out while being maintained tensioned and grasped by the binding yarns.

What we claim is:

1. In a shuttleless loom having means for injecting successive lengths of weft yarn into a warp shed and causing them to pass from one side of the shed to the other under the control of a fluid under pressure, means for grasping and guiding the end of the length of moving weft yarn and tensioning it, the combination comprising a plurality of binding yarns along one side of the array of warp yarns, yarn manipulating means engaging said binding yarns and manipulating said binding yarns for successively grasping the ends of the lengths of weft yarns which have been driven through the shed, yarn moving means downstream of the shed engaging said binding yarns and moving them in the direction of the length of the fabric, and yarn twisting means between said yarn moving means and said shed and engaging said binding yarns and twisting at least the portion of the length of said binding yarns between said yarn twisting means and the shed which have grasped said weft yarns for insuring that the ends of the weft yarns are securely bound by the binding yarns and for maintaining tension on said weft yarns.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1 and further comprising cutting means between said binding yarns and the warp for cutting the weft yarns between the binding yarns and the warp.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,389,809 11/ 1945 Moessinger 139302 2,668,560 2/1954 Svaty 139-127 2,906,296 9/1959 Ancet et al. 139-291 3,030,788 4/1962 Peel 66-145 X 3,171,444 3/1965 Juillard 139-303 X FOREIGN PATENTS 39,476 11/ 1936 Netherlands.

625,921 8/ 1961 Canada.

1,309,945 10/1962 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner.

J. KEE CHI, Assislant Examiner. 

1. IN A SHUTTLELESS LOOM HAVING MEANS FOR INJECTING SUCCESSIVE LENGTHS OF WEFT YARN INTO A WARP SHED AND CAUSING THEM TO PASS FROM ONE SIDE OF THE SHED TO THE OTHER UNDER THE CONTROL OF A FLUID UNDER PRESSURE, MEANS FOR GRASPING AND GUIDING THE END OF THE LENGTH OF MOVING WEFT YARN AND TENSIONING IT, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF BINDING YARNS ALONG ONE SIDE OF THE ARRAY OF WARP YARNS, YARN MANIPULATING MEANS ENGAGING SAID BINDING YARNS AND MANIPULATING SAID BINDING YARNS FOR SUCCESSIVELY GRASPING THE ENDS OF THE LENGTHS OF WEFT YARNS WHICH HAVE BEEN DRIVEN THROUGH THE SHED, YARN MOVING MEANS DOWNSTREAM OF THE SHED ENGAGING SAID BINDING YARNS AND MOVING THEM IN THE DIRECTION OF THE LENGTH OF THE FABRIC, AND YARN TWISTING MEANS BETWEEN SAID YARN MOVING MEANS AND SAID SHED AND ENGAGING SAID BINDING YARNS AND TWISTING AT LEAST THE PORTION OF THE LENGTH OF SAID BINDING YARNS BETWEEN SAID YARN TWISTING MEANS AND THE SHED WHICH HAVE GRASPED SAID WEFT YARNS FOR INSURING THAT THE ENDS OF THE WEFT YARNS ARE SECURELY BOUND BY THE BINDING YARNS AND FOR MAINTAINING TENSION ON SAID WEFT YARNS. 